Chapter 6 - Spiralling Out of Control (CitC)
Chubba refused to come after them. Tubba expected as much; his brother was proud, and he had everything he needed. The challenge Clubbar set him when he split from the Clubba Kingdom had been achieved, and he needed nothing else. The Clubba Kingdom had once been the strongest Kingdom in the world. The man who was at the forefront of it was Cloansar, the half-Clubba, half-Spiked Clubba who once ruled the world. He was memorialized in many ways in the Clubba Kingdom, not least in the way the flagship vessel of the Kingdom was named the SS Cloansar. Of course, as it happened, an Empire could never last for long. Tubba himself had the experience of felling an Empire; once a leader who the rest of the Empire pivots around is destroyed, the Empire tends to fall too. As he sat aboard the SS Cloansar, alone in the Captain's quarters, Tubba pored over the most recent map of the known quarter of the Mushroom World. In the top right corner of the map was the Clubba Kingdom. The Clubba Kingdom was bordered on the north, west and south sides by the Mushroom Kingdom. To an extent, they were also bordered on the east side, but there was a brief stretch of land that allowed the Clubba Kingdom to border the sea. Gusty Gulch, where the Castle was based, was on the far northeastern side, allowing the Clubbas to sail right next to their castle. To the southwest edge of the Mushroom Mainland was the BeanBean Kingdom, where Teehee Valley and Stardust Fields bordered the Desert Land section of the Mushroom Kingdom. There was a small artificial canal there, called the MushBean Canal, to allow ships to sail from the Oho Ocean to the Sarasaland Sea without having to cross around BeanBean Kingdom. In the bottom left corner of the map was Rogueport. Directly north of Rogueport was the Waffle Kingdom, and east of that, on the west part of the Mushroom Mainland was Sarasaland, as well as three islands floating around Lavalava Island, named Easton, Birabuto and Chai. As it happened, The SS Cloansar would have to sail south of the BeanBean Kingdom, and loop around the Mushroom Kingdom's mainland to get to the Clubba Kingdom. It was a journey that would normally take a few days. Tubba looked up as the door to the Captain's quarters opened. Having been the Captain of a ship, Tubba knew that the SS Cloansar's captain's quarters far outstripped any measly "actual" Captain's room. It was much bigger for one, so that king-size bed in the corner actually looked undersized in the room, and had things a sea Captain wouldn't need, such as a fridge and a chandelier. Standing in the doorway was Clubbar, who looked distinctly ragged and weary. "Stars, Clubbar, you look terrible." Tubba remarked, turning back to the map. He didn't want to spend too much time at Sea, but cutting through the BeanBean waters, as they would have to in the quickest route, would be dangerous. The graying Clubba sighed, "your battling friends," pulled up a comfortable chair with plush black seating, and sat down on the other side of the desk. "What are you looking at?" "The quickest way. We can't afford to spend too much time at sea." Clubbar gave a noise of disagreement. "We also can't afford to get sunk before we get back. We're one ship; the BeanBean Kingdom will have a whole fleet." "So will the Mushroom Kingdom, if we take the route I'm taking." Clubbar slammed his fist down on the table, making the pencils and pens around the map jump. "Are you insane?! Taking the Mushroom Kingdom route will get us killed for sure! The BeanBean Kingdom's navy is slightly weak, so I can afford us cutting through there, but the Mushroom Kingdom? We'll get slaughtered!" "I recognize these waters. We shouldn't get killed." Tubba looked the older Clubba in the eye. "Look, we'd be sailing for two days more or longer if we take your route, south beyond the BeanBean Kingdom waters, up north around Oho Ocean, skirt Kremling territory and land in Clubba waters. Two days we can't afford to lose." "Who's in charge here, Tubba?" Clubbar asked, his voice calmer. Suddenly, Tubba stood up. He had been under the impression that he was in charge, and Clubbar would take the role of Advisor and Commander of the Armies as he always had done. "I thought I was, Clubbar." When his voice came out, it was low and foreboding. "Well, you thought wrong! I am! I'm the regent!" The older Clubba also leapt up to his feet, his voice shaking with anger. Clubbar was just as tall as Tubba, so neither could have the advantage of intimidating the other. "You called me back on the impression I would be able to do what I wanted, with your advice. Was that a lie?" Tubba glared at Clubbar, satisfied to see a brief flash of guilt in his eyes. The old Clubba turned away, not meeting Tubba's eyes. "You see, I did what I had to do to bring you. You're a useful Clubba to have but you can't have ultimate control in the Kingdom anymore, Tubba." "Why not? If you're regent, you can just step down?" "I'm not regent. The control now rests with someone else." Sitting back down with a thud, Tubba put his head down. He hadn't come to the Clubba Kingdom expecting to control and dominate, but he had felt proud. When the chips were down, the first person Clubbar thought to temporarily lead the Kingdom was him. To learn he wasn't going to be granted all the graces that came with control was a shock. He really felt that spending two more days avoiding danger would and could be terminal to the Clubba Kingdom. When he looked up again, Clubbar's face was stone-hard and forlorn. "You see," Clubbar began, sitting back down as well. "Mycerinus was an emergency King. He had no offspring yet, and with an oncoming war, we pressured him to at least get a Queen." "He succeeded, I'm guessing?" Tubba guessed, remembering the blue half-Clubba that he had brought back from Ice Land to be King. From the newspaper snippets of "The Daily Rogueport" about the Clubba Kingdom, he had gathered Mycerinus was a good King. At seventeen, three years past Clubba adulthood, he was regarded as pious and noble, and had taken on all the duties of a King. When Tubba went back there to visit his friend Gonzales two years ago, Mycerinus was twenty and very well respected among the commoners. Clubbar nodded. "And the Queen is now the sole monarch in command of the Kingdom. No heir. I've got strict orders to stay out of trouble." "Fine, Clubbar, you win. We'll play it safe." Tubba sighed, looking out the porthole window toward the northeast. A Kingdom of Clubbas lay out there. A Kingdom that was once his, but was no longer.